SOLID EARTH DEVELOPMENT CORP. (SEDC) sent a medical mission to Tubod, a remote community in the far hinterlands of San Fernando, Cebu, providing residents with sought-after medical attention.
Housewife Norbeta Canillo was so delighted by the mission as her daughter Angelica, 12, finally got attended to by doctors after suffering unexplained headache and stomachache since she got injected by a publicly administered vaccine.
“Dako na kaayo ang among kabalaka tungod sa kanunay nga pagpanakit sa tiyan ug ulo nga giantos sa akong anak sukad nga na-injectionan og Dengvaxia (We were so worried because of the pain in the stomach and head she had been experiencing since she was injected with Dengvaxia),” Norberta said of the controversial vaccine.
“Tungod lagi sa among kawad-on, gipainom ra nako (siya) og herbal sama sa mangagaw ug laki nga kapayas (Because of poverty, we just let her take some herbal medicine like Euphorbia Hirta and male papaya),” she continued. She was happy to receive the vitamins and some medicines the doctors gave them to help improve her daughter’s health.
SEDC director Hiroyuki Sakakibara oversaw the mission with Shigeki Koide, vice president for administration of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (TCPI) that supported the activity with some resources and manpower.
The Tubod mission served 417 resident, 159 of them adults and 115 children, plus 19 others with dental cases and 124 who got new spectacles for eyesight and reading issues, said Mitzie Almira I. Carin, lead SEDC division manager.
She said the mission attended to patients with cases of hypertension, arthritis, myalgia (body pains), common cough and colds, fever, stomachache and some skin rashes.
Tubod Barangay Captain Teodora E. Canoy led barangay councilors, health workers and teachers in supporting the mission that they are very thankful for.
Tubod National High School head teacher Kathlene Marie P. Gencono said the teachers have long known the dire need for medical attention among Tubod residents, especially the children and are thankful for the SEDC mission.
“Clearly, SEDC pursued this mission not for being prodded upon by its top officials but the employees’ sincere intent to help Tubod and the other barangays in San Fernando,” she said.
The barangay councilors who served during the mission included Efren Baring, Boena Venturada Paypa, Valerio Canoy, Camelo Sillon, Aquilino Rabadon and Felix Villasurda.
The series of medical missions SEDC and TCPI undertook since 2005 have to date served 24,554 patients.